A/N: I'm apologizing in advance for anything weird that happens in this chapter. LOL, not really, but I am SOOO tired. I'm slightly delusional. I just babysat for a crazy four-year-old over night with a friend. Then my friend dragged me to McDonalds in the morning for a much appreciated egg McMuffin, and an even greater appreciated endless flow of cheap coffee. Man, I haven't eaten McDonalds in YEARS.
On the bright side, I just finished watching Brokeback Mountain. :D I cried so hard, my tears probably could've supplied water to villages in Africa for a week.
Chapter 14: Christmas Kisses, Or Lack There Of
Max's POV
My days here in little Sierra Vista, Arizona were running together like watercolors on paper. Not in a bad way, but days were slowly turning into weeks, and weeks were beginning to blend into months. In the time since I'd arrived nearly two months ago, I'd done things that had never even crossed my mind. Things I hadn't done since I was six or seven years old. I eat dinner at a kitchen table almost every night and actually talk to the people I'm sharing the food with. I go to school every day and see my friends. Eat lunch with them. Go to all my classes with them. I saw a movie in theaters for the first time in ages. And JJ and Caitlyn took shit tons of pictures.
My old life living with my dad was slowly fading away. It didn't feel like I had ever lived any other way. I felt like I'd lived here my entire life. I'd always known Fang and Iggy and everyone else. Ella and I had always watched cartoons in the morning together. The gang had never even existed. Since that night on Halloween, my old "friends" rarely (if ever) crossed my mind.
We'd lied our asses off to Mrs. Martinez about me finding Ella and everyone after they'd gotten kidnapped. In this lie scenario, they'd just been lost and we had all gone back to Caitlyn's house after I found them and I'd forgotten to call. I felt extremely guilty about this, but Mrs. Martinez seemed to buy it and the subject hasn't been touched on since. Me, Iggy, and Fang never bring it up, either. Sometimes I can tell that they're still confused about why those guys were after me in the first place, but thankfully, they never ask. Alot of the time, it seems like that night never happened. Everything went back to normal so quickly. It was unreal.
The necklace stays securely stowed away in it's new hiding place: stuffed with care into the toe of an ancient pair of tennis shoes burried in my closet under a pile of old sweatpants. Not exactly the most glamorous place for it, but...There wasn't anything else I could think of. Nudge, despite the fact that she talks more than those guys that read the disclaimers at the end of commercials, has kept her mouth shut about the whole ordeal. Angel kept her pinky promise as well, along with Gazzy. Like I said...it's like the whole thing never even happened.
"Max!" Ella popped into the living room where I was casually adjusting a few candles on the mantle. We were on Christmas break (sheesh...time has flown by!), and had decided to do a little decorating around the house to kill some time. I know, I know...Maximum Ride going all Martha Stewart? I told you this place had changed me. Ella spoke again. "Have you seen any of that garland that was in the basement? I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find it."
"It's over there." I gestured helpfully to the pile of green and red bundled on the couch. Ella grabbed it and, with a breathy "thanks", dashed off again to go find a place to string it. I shook my head, smiling to myself as I turned to position the red felt at the bottom of the Christmas tree that was cheerfully occupying space in the corner of the room. It was bare at the moment, but we were waiting for Mrs. Martinez to get home before we hung up the ornaments. Suddenly, I heard a tinkering noise in the kitchen, and 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' started to play on the CD player Ella had evidentally brought down from her room and into the kitchen. I groaned, and sat back on my heels. I could tolerate decorations, but this was just too much.
"Ella!" I called over the noise, "I'm all for this 'let's spread holiday cheer thing', but if you don't turn that music off in about three seconds, I'm seriously going to jump out a window." It took a few seconds, but the music abruptly died. I smiled again and went back to work. A few minutes later, the front door swung open and Mrs. Martinez shuffled in, her arms laden with grocery bags. I lessened her load a little bit for her and follwed her into the kitchen where Ella was gleefully hanging up one of those Countdown to Chrismas Eve things on the wall.
"What's with all the bags?" she asked, coming over to peek into them and see what they contained. Mrs. Martinez smiled.
"Well...I was picking up some eggs at the grocery store when I started thinking about how this is Max's first Christmas with us." She turned to grin at me. I felt myself begin to become slightly weary. What was she planning? "And I think that a great way to celebrate is to throw a Christmas party!" She looked at us as though waiting for me and Ella to start jumping around in excitement.
"Oh...Mrs. Martinez, you don't have to do anything special..." I muttered, imagining the party in my head. Food everywhere, with really loud Christmas music playing through the house and a bunch of strangers trying to chat with you everywhere you went. I almost shuddered. I had some sort of party-phobia. They were REALLY not my cup of tea. But Mrs. Martinez just shook her head.
"Don't worry about it. I think it'll be fun. We can make a bunch of cute little appetizers and stuff..." She waved her hand over the groceries. "And everyone can talk. We'll invite your friends and their families. And I'll tell everyone to bring a dish to pass so we can have a nice dinner later on." She beamed to herself as she rattled off ideas for this fantasy party and began unpacking the bags.
"Don't you think everyone would want to be with their families on Christmas?" Ella asked, leaning on the counter as we watched her mother put away the food.
"Well we'd have it a couple days before Christmas so everyone could make it." She looked at us hopefully. "We can invite Monique and her family." she said to Ella. It took me a minute to realize she was talking about Nudge. Judging from Ella's expression, she had had to think about it too. "And what about that girl that you hang out with, Max? JJ? We could invite her family. And Nick." The thought of Fang amidst a full-blown Christmas party made me laugh. He'd probably last five minutes before he ran away screaming. Mrs. Martinez paused with a wheel of cheese in her hands. "Well...I mean...if you think it would be too overwhelming, Max, we don't have to do it." she said. I looked up at her and she looked sincerely concerned for my feelings, but I could tell at the same time that she was really hoping I would consent. She would never say that, though.
"Uh...no..." I said finally. "No, that sounds like alot of fun." I said, putting on a brave face. She looked immediately relieved.
"Okay, great. I'll have to call everyone and see if they can even make it. Then I'll start planning for how much food we'll need. Has anyone seen the phone book?" She bustled out of the kitchen in search of it. Me and Ella were left to finish putting everything away. Ella was helping me make room in the freezer for a frozen pizza when she paused and looked at me intently.
"You REALLY don't wanna have this party, do you?" she asked knowingly.
"I'd rather sit in a bathtub full of cockroaches." I answered pointedly. She shuddered and rolled her eyes.
"Oh...come on. Parties aren't THAT bad. And besides...you'll know practically everyone that's there."
"I know...that makes it ten times worse. 'Cause now I'll actually have to make conversation." Ella snorted.
"God, you are such a hermit. You act as though you haven't been talking to these people for the last two months." She shut the freezer door as we stood back up. I sighed.
"I know, but it's...different at these sorts of things. You have to be all...formal. And talk about...weird shit." I said.
"Oh, now you're just looking for excuses. Do you have some sort of fear of people?" she asked me jokingly. But in my head I was thinking 'Yes...I hate the thought of talking to people. What if they bring up something I don't want to talk about?' Ella just laughed it off, though. "Now stop worrying about it and get over here and help me finish hanging this garland."
"Max, can you get the door? I think some of the guests are here!" Mrs. Martinez was running around in the kitchen, pulling all sorts of shit out the oven or the refrigerator or cabinets. Seriously, if you blinked, there would magically be seven more platters of food than there was before. It was rediculous. I groaned and got up from my gracefully lumped position on the couch and ambled to the door to answer it.
Angel and Gazzy were standing on the step, dressed nicely. Gazzy's hair was slicked back, and Angel wore hers elaborately pinned over one shoulder. The people standing behind them looked even more formal. I assumed they were Angel and Gazzy's parents. "Hi, I'm Ricky. It's nice to meet you." The woman extended a bony hand to me. She had blonde hair like Angel's, but it was straightened and only went down to her shoulders. She wore bright red lipstick and her slim body was clad in a fancy sling-back black dress. Her husband was no less intimidating.
"Stephen." he said, flashing his ultra-white teeth and shaking my hand with a firm grip.
"Umm...hi." was all I managed to get out. I suddenly felt incredibly under-dressed in just a pair of jeans and a relatively nice yellow shirt Ella had lent me. I cleared my throat and stepped back, suddenly realizing how awkward it was to just be standing there and staring at them. "Uh, come in." They stepped into our heavily decorated house, and Mrs. Martinez came out of the kitchen moments later, still in her apron, to greet them. I took advantage of their momentary distraction to try and slip up the stairs and escape everything. But, of course...God hates me. The doorbell was ringing again.
"Max, could you get that?" Mrs. Martinez asked, still talking to Angel and Gazzy's parents. I held back a groan and tramped reluctantly back to the door. This time, it was Iggy and his family. His mother, Jane, was a small woman with a lot of hair, and Liam, his step-father, was a quiet man with glasses. I tried yet again to slip away after I let them in, but the doorbell rang again.
"Ugh! Well, why don't I just be the freaking Door Man?" I said in exasperation.
"Good idea, honey." Mrs. Martinez said absentmindedly as she walked past me and back into the kitchen. So for the next forty-five minutes or so, I leaned against the wall or sat on the stairs and waited for the doorbell to ring so I could answer it. It was probably the most boring thing I had ever done in my life. I did end up meeting everybody's parents though. Nudge's mother was named Tina, and was extremely beautiful like Nudge herself. Her father was Rob. I even met Caitlyn and JJ's parents. Michael and his family had already left town for the holidays, so he couldn't make it.
The door-traffic had quieted down substantially after awhile, and I was just about to leave to head to the kitchen (I was starving!) when there came a knock. I groaned and open the door with what was apparently an angry expression. Fang was standing right there. He rose his eyebrows when he saw me glaring at him. "Oh, it's you." I said, stepping back to let him in.
"Were you expecting someone else?" he asked quietly as he entered. I shook my head.
"Nah, I've just been answering the door for the last five million years." I saw him trying to hide a smirk. I moved to close the door, and then paused. "Did you come here by yourself?" I asked him, peeking out the door to see if anyone else was coming. He shook his head.
"My mom's coming. She uh...insisted on bringing probably the biggest cake on the planet." And indeed, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw a woman with the same dark features as her son come staggering around the corner under a HUGE cake. I held the door for her as she stumbled in and made her way quickly towards the kitchen.
"Whoa..." was I all I said, smiling at Fang.
"Yeah..." was his response. I looked down at his arms and saw that he was holding a square package brightly wrapped in green and tied with a gold ribbon. I leaned in to examine it more closely, but he shoved it behind his back. I frowned.
"What is it?" I asked him, trying to circle around him so I could see it, but he kept pulling it out of my view.
"It's nothing. It's just something for that Secret Santa thing your mom told us about." Ah yes...Mrs. Martinez had organized a Secret Santa. You know...where you pick a name from a hat and then you have to get that person a gift. And nobody knows who has who. I'd had to buy for Angel, so it wasn't that difficult. Ella had helped me select a few cute little things the last time we'd gone to Walmart. I ended up with an adorable stuffed hippo, some heart-shaped sun glasses, and one of those GIGANTIC lolipops. It was now stuffed unceremoniously in a bag that said 'Happy Birthday'. (I couldn't find anything else, okay!)
We stood there in awkward silence for a couple of seconds, before I figured it was probably safer to make my way into the kitchen than to try to start a conversation. I had never seen our kitchen more crowded in my life. All sorts of little platters of food covered the counters and the table. People were milling around and talking, or sitting in chairs and nibbling on the food. Ella and Nudge were chatting as they sampled the many different Christmas cookies on the island. Angel was sitting on the floor a little ways away from everyone and playing peacefully with that stuffed bear of hers. And Iggy and Gazzy were leaning against the fridge, pouring over what looked to be a small heap of batteries wrapped in duct tape. I decided I didn't really want to know, and passed them to get to the food.
After filling my plate with deviled eggs, crackers and cheese, and a gingerbread man, I plopped down at the table next to a woman I recognized as Fang's mom. She smiled at me when I sat down. "You must be Max."
"Mhughfsduh..." I mumbled awkwardly through a large mouthful of cookie. It had meant to be a simple 'yeah', but...cookies do weird things to my enunciation abilities. I swallowed painfully and then said breathily, "I mean...yeah...Yeah, I'm Max." Fang's mom chuckled.
"I'm Mrs. Damon, Nick's mom. You can call me Lisa, though, if you want. It's what everyone else calls me." She took a delicate nibble of a cracker. "Yeah, Nick talks about you quite a bit." I felt my eyes widen.
"He TALKS?" I said incredulously. She began to laugh again, and I realized how rediculous I'd sounded. "Well...I mean, I KNOW he talks, but...You know..." I made 'you-get-the-point' hand gestures.
"No, I know exactly what you mean." She smiled across the room at Fang, who was trying to shy away from an overly-friendly middle aged woman offering him egg nog with a panicked expression on his face. "Yeah, he's certainly quiet. But whenever he does talk, you come up alot." I was dumbstruck. I couldn't imagine Fang talking about much of anything, but especially not me. I mean...he looked like he went home and sat in a dark corner all day. Suddenly, Nudge came bustling over to the table. She was on a sugar high from all the Christmas sweets. Her pupils were quite dialated, and her mouth was running about a mile a minute.
"Hi Max. Hi, Mrs. Damon. How's it going? Have you tried Mrs. Germanotta's gingersnaps? They're really good. I think she said something about putting extra molasses in it or something to make them taste so AMAZING. I never used to really like gingersnaps until I tried hers." She paused for a moment to take a breath, and looked like she was reconsidering what she just said. "Well, no actually...I take that back. There were these ones that I bought a couple months ago that were really good..." She continued on. This was my que to leave.
"Nudge..." I said, "Don't get me wrong. I do love a stimulating conversation about cookies, but...I've gotta go help Mrs. Martinez make...oranges. Yeah..." I got up to leave, giving Fang's mom a sympathetic smile because I felt bad that I was leaving her at Nudge's mercy. But she beamed right back at me.
"It was nice meeting you." she said, sounding genuinely delighted.
"Yeah." I nodded to be polite. As I was starting to walk away, though, Nudge asked a question that made me pause.
"So how's Shayna doing? Is she still in the hospital?" I'd forgotten that Nudge and Shayna were friends. I'm sure she must've found out about the cancer situation eventually. I heard Mrs. Damon give a sigh that sounded full of sorrow. I felt my heart break a little in my chest.
"Oh...well..she's doing alright. I mean, she's hanging in there. The doctor's said she'll have to be in the hospital for Christmas, though." I frowned, imagining poor little Shayla spending Christmas eve in a starkly white hospital bed, watching those Christmas specials by herself.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Nudge said, sounding anxious. "Well, I should totally like...come visit her sometime and give her the gift I got her. It's totally cute."
"I think she'd love that, Monique." Mrs. Damon responded warmly, though I could still detect a hint of sadness in her voice. Then Mrs. Martinez was calling me over.
"Max, do you think you and Nick could do me a favor?" she asked when I reached her. She was speaking in a quiet voice, so as not to let anybody else hear.
"I'll do anything if it involves Fang..." my mind responded immediately. I mentally slapped myself and answered in a way that didn't make me sound like a creepy stalker. "Uh...sure, I guess. What do you need?"
"Dinner's gonna be a little bit yet, and it looks like the kids are getting a bit restless." She gestured to the room around us. Along with Angel and Gazzy, quite a few of Ella's friends had younger siblings ranging in age from three to eight years old. There were little nuggets rampaging all over the place. One of them had spilled a sippy cup of juice all over the floor, and another was sticking his hands into a bowl of potato salad. I cringed. She didn't want us to babysit, did she? "I was wondering if maybe you and Fang could hide some little Christmas trinkets I got around the house and organize a sort of...treasure hunt. It would keep them occupied."
I was hesitating. As much as I would love to do anything to help Mrs. Martinez out (and to have an excuse to hang around Fang), I REALLY did not like little kids. I mean...other than Angel and Gazzy, but that's because they're so mature for their age. Mrs. Martinez looked at me hopefully. "I'll see if I can get Ella to take care of the whole 'getting-the-kids-to-actually-look' part if you guys'll just hide the stuff." I let out a sigh of relief. Just as long as I didn't have to chase a bunch of toddlers around...
"Yeah, sure."
"Okay, great. There's a plastic bag of little toys and candy and stuff upstairs in my room. Just go around and hide them wherever. Just not in the bedrooms, okay?" I nodded, spying Fang over in a corner, clutching a cup of punch in his hand so hard his knuckles were turning white. I walked over to his hiding place.
"Come on, Mr. Creeper-in-the-Corner...You're gonna come help me with something." I took the cup from his hands and set it on the crowded counter, then grabbed his forearm and started leading him towards the stairs.
"And you're taking me where?" he asked, but he made no attempt to pull out of my grip.
"We're organizing a treasure hunt for some kids before they start a riot and destroy the house." I said seriously, a mental image of a band of enraged children swarming through the rooms and tearing up the furniture like rabid animals. It could happen! "You're helping me hide shit for them." I reached Mrs. Martinez's room and grabbed two plastic bags off of her bed, peeking inside one to see what was in it. Little toy soldiers, mini stuffed animals, about two tons of candy... I handed Fang one. "Come on."
And we started through the house, stuffing the trinkets in little spots here and there, making some of them obvious. We were in the bathroom and Fang was putting one in a tissue box. I was sitting on counter, twirling a stuffed snowman around in my palms. "I met your mom..." I said casually. He paused for a second, and then went on with balancing a Tootsie Roll on the spout in the bath tub. "She seems nice..." I said, grinning to myself and thinking about what she had told me. Fang spotted my grin out of the corner of his eye and narrowed his gaze.
"Uh oh..." he said in a voice full of dread. "What embarassing story did she tell you?" He paused and thought for a moment. And then his eyes conveyed horror. "Oh God, she didn't tell you the one about my third birthday, did she?"
"I didn't know you had embarassing stories!" I said gleefully. "I'll have to ask your mom about the birthday one." He groaned to himself, and I laughed. "No...don't worry. She only talked about you for like...a minute or two. We were interrupted by the Nudge Channel." He still looked slightly concerned, but he was trying his hardest to play cool as a cucumber.
"What did she say?" he asked, as though he didn't really care. I smirked.
"Oh nothing." I said teasingly, hopping off of the counter and heading downstairs. It took a minute, but I suddenly heard his footsteps following after me. I was peering into living room. There was nobody else in it, which was odd, because this was probably the most Christmasy room in the house. A fire was blazing in the fireplace, and the tree was glowing with lights. The mantle was adorned with cinnamon scented candles, and garland was strung across it. I just stood in the doorway and stared into the room, feeling like I was in a gingerbread house. Fang came to stand next to me.
"No really, what did she say?" he asked, sounding slightly more concerned. I laughed and shook my head, enjoying his torment and turning to face him so I could see his expression straight on and not out of the corner of my vision. He leaned against one side of the doorway, and I leaned back against the opposite one. "What did she say?" I grinned.
"She said you talked about me alot." His face was blank for a moment, and then several emotions flashed in his eyes. I could make out surprise, confusion, a bit of irritability, and then nervousness.
"I-Not really. I mean...She doesn't-No." he spluttered. I'd never heard him sounding so stuttery before. I smiled at him knowingly.
"Aww...come on. I think it's funny. So what do you say about me?" I nudged him playfully with my elbow, feeling unusually outgoing for some reason. Maybe it was the holiday atmosphere. "Or maybe it's Fang..." a little voice in my head said. I ignored it. "Do you talk about how AWESOME I am? Or maybe how...intelligent I am?" I prodded.
"I-no. I mean, I talk about you...SOMETIMES. But not...I don't know what she meant." I laughed. Suddenly, he counter-attacked me. "Well what about you? Mrs. Martinez was telling me about how much you talk about ME." I grew wide-eyed.
"What? No, I don't! I mean...well...No!" I tried to think back over the last few weeks if I had said anything about him to Mrs. Martinez. There was no WAY. I thought hard, trying to recall moments when he'd come up in conversation...
Two weeks ago, getting out of the car: "Yeah, Nick said he's gonna get a black car when he can drive."
Last weekend, watching E.T. with Mrs. Martinez and Ella: "That's funny, me and Nick were just watching this movie. Well, you know..there were other people there. It was at Caitlyn's house. But yeah...I was just sitting next to him, is all."
A few days ago while working on biology homework in the kitchen: "Ugh, I don't even remember half this stuff! Me and Nick were just passing notes all class period..."
Last night at dinner, eating burgers and french fries: "This reminds me of this one time I went to Burger King with Nick. Good times...good times..."
"Pshh...I NEVER talk about you." I said, coming defensively out of my thoughts, and feeling my cheeks heating up a little bit. Fang just raised his eyebrows. I didn't realize how up in eachother's faces we had gotten until now. Fang's face was just a few inches from mine. I could see every detail of his eyes. They were mysterious pools of darkness, but they gave off this comforting vibe.
"Well, I never talk about you either." he said softly, his warm breath blowing on my face. His breath smelt like fruit punch and chewing gum. I nervously held mine. There was no way mine could smell that good after those deviled eggs. Suddenly, his gaze turned upwards. Mine followed. A little green plant with white berries was tied in a vibrant red ribbon and hanging from the doorway. "What's that?" he asked, not looking down.
"Mistletoe, I think..." I said all breathily, looking at his chin and waiting for his eyes to return to mine. They finally did.
"What's it doing there?"
"I don't know. Ella must've hung it up or something." We were just staring at eachother. My stomach had that weird feeling you get like...before you have to speak in front of big crowds. Where it feels like restless energy is just bouncing around in there and if you don't start doing something, you're going to spontaneously combust.
"I don't know what my mom was talking about, because I hardly ever bring you up." Fang said suddenly, and he was unintentionally (I think) leaning towards me.
"Well, good, because it makes me feel weird when people talk about me and I don't know it." I said, not able to look away from his eyes.
"I guess it's good that we don't talk about eachother, then." he breathed. He was leaning even further in, his eyes not drifting astray from my gaze. I could feel his breath hot on my slightly agape lips. I was beginning to gravitate forward as well, drawn in by his hypnotizing eyes.
"Yeah..." was all I managed. Then my eyes fluttered closed and I was moving my face forwards, waiting for my mouth to meet his. It never got the chance to.
"Max!" came Ella's annoyingly loud voice from around the corner. Me and Fang jumped backwards so quickly we both smacked our heads into the sides of the doorway.
"OW!" we cried out in unison, clutching the backs of our skulls. Ella was just standing there in front of us now, looking confused.
"Uh...are you guys okay?" she asked, knitting her eyebrows together.
"Just peachy..." I grumbled irately, massaging what was sure to be a developing bruise.
"Well...mom said something about a treasure hunt?" she went on. This brought me back to the real world. Not fantasy world where I'd just been about to kiss Fang under some goddamn fucking mistletoe, for Christ's sake! What had I been thinking?
"Uh...yeah..." I said hurriedly, moving out of the doorway. "I'll help you get the kids together. The stuff's all hidden." I was marching Ella back to the kitchen, eager to get out of the room. She looked stunned.
"But Max...you HATE little kids."
"Yeah, well...first time for everything is what I always say..." I gave a fake laugh and continued to push her forwards. Glancing back once over my shoulders, I saw Fang staring back at me, his hand hovering over his lips. I quickly looked away and ran into the kitchen, dragging a confused Ella.
I spent the rest of the evening practically glued to Ella's side and avoiding you-know-who at all costs. If Fang walked into the room I was in, I immediately left to go to another one. If he came anywhere near me, I found a random person and started hurried conversations so that I didn't have to talk to him. (Even though there was no real danger of him actually trying to talk to me, I still felt safer.) If someone mentioned him while we were talking I quickly made an excuse about having to go to the bathroom or having to go help my practically enslaved guardian prepare more oranges.
"You can't MAKE oranges!" was Iggy's incredulous response when I'd had to flee from him after he brought up something about Fang acting weirder tonight than usual. Finally it was time for dinner, and I thought I'd escaped the worst my problems. Unfortuantely, though, I was devastatingly wrong. In all the scramble to get to the table, I ended up sandwiched between some lady I didn't know and Iggy. But across from me, his dark hair swinging into his eyes as he shifted to make room for his mom, was Fang. I felt my eye twitching. Both of us were determinedly not making eye contact.
"Alright!" Mrs. Martinez said cheerfully at the head of the table. "Thank you for coming. It's so nice to have all of you over for a nice dinner. Everybody, help yourselves." And she beamed at everyone before we all threw ourselves at the delicious food laid out before us. Everyone had indeed brought a dish to pass, so there was a never-ending supply of platters on the table. Baskets of rolls, about 80 different kinds of potatoes, a fruit salad, cooked vegetables, and of course, the Christmas ham. I helped myself to a bit of everything. Reaching out to grab the dish of mashed potatoes in front of me, my hand brushed Fang's because he was reaching for it as well. I jerked my hand back so quickly, I almost knocked over my glass of punch.
Such movements became necessary throughout the rest of the meal. His knee brushed mine under the table: I pulled my legs back at super-speed and almost fell out of my chair. We asked for someone to pass the rolls at the same time: I slapped my hand over my mouth like I'd suddenly yelled 'Fuck!' at the top of my lungs with no warning. His wrist brushed the back of my hand as he reached over my outstretched arm to get a pitcher of water: I flung my hand down to avoid contact and it ended up in the quiche I had been trying to serve myself. Ella, who was sitting a few chairs away on the opposite side of the table, kept looking at me out of the corner of eye and giving me 'what-are-you-doing?' looks.
When the meal was finally over and Mrs. Martinez had requested mine and Ella's help in the kitchen with serving Mrs. Damon's Christmas cake, Ella pulled me aside. "Okay, what happened with you and Fang?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips and looking at me sternly.
"I-I...Nothing happened. Why would you think something happened?" I said, trying not to sound nervous and failing miserably. Ella rolled her eyes.
"I don't know...Maybe because you practically have a seizure everytime you accidentally touch him." she pointed out bluntly. Jeese...was it really THAT bad?
"I...Nothing happened, Ella. Don't worry about it." I told her, wishing she would drop it. She looked like she wanted to press further into the matter, but I was saved by Mrs. Martinez asking us to start carrying slices of cake out to the guests. I did so gratefully, staying to the side of the table opposite where Fang was sitting when I was serving it. Ella kept shooting me these LOOKS every time she caught my eye. I ate my cake in twitchy silence when I finally sat down, not taking my eyes off of my plate.
When everyone was polishing off the last crumbs of cake, Mrs. Martinez stood up and started clearing the table of dishes. Several moms got up to help, probably out of instinct. "Okay, everyone can grab their Secret Santa gifts and head into the living room. We'll open them in just a moment." Everyone began to migrate towards the living room. I located JJ in amongst the crowd and followed her in. We were squished onto the couch with a bunch of other random people. I kept a watchful eye out for a certain dark-haired someone and noticed thankfully that he was standing on the other side of the room. He was holding that green package again. Everyone else had grabbed their gifts as well.
I spotted my 'Happy Birthday' bag under the tree and ran to retrieve it. I was squeezing into my spot on the couch again when Mrs. Martinez came in with the other moms and started smiling like crazy. "Allright, everyone! You can give your Secret Santa your gifts!" Everyone surged forward to the center of the room. Warm smiles, handshakes, and many hugs were exchanged along with the gifts. The sound of tearing paper and squeals of excitement filled the room. I saw Nudge jumping up and down and hugging Ella, who had given her a brand new set of lip gloss and a gift card to her favorite store. JJ had had Iggy and was now laughing at his expression as he held up the 50th Anniversary Barbie Doll she had apparently gotten him.
I found Angel and handed her my bag. Her face lit up when she opened it and pulled out all the stuff. She put on the sunglasses and jumped on me in a big hug. "Thanks, Max!" she squealed excitedly, clutching the hippo under her arm. "I love them!" I just smiled down at her, glad to see that she was so pleased. Suddenly, her eyes were looking over my shoulder. "Oh, hi Fang! Are you Max's Secret Santa?" she said brightly. I whipped around and sure enough, Fang was standing right there, moving his gift from one arm to the other and looking out of place. I just stared at him. Oh God! This was awkward as hell.
Suddenly, he held the package out in front of him, offering it to me. "Uh...I got you something, 'cause...you know...I'm not sure if you'll like it, but..." he trailed off, looking down at his feet and kicking a stray bow out of the way. I took the green box from him and clutched it in my hands for a second. It was hard, but slightly soft at the same time. It was relatively thin, but sort of heavy-ish. It was hard to describe. I pulled off the gold ribbon and tore the paper away. It turned out to be a square book. It was white with a deep red binding and the white part had little red and grey feathers painted in scattered patterns across it. The cover read OUR PHOTO ALBUM in curly black lettering.
I flipped it open to the first page and was greeted with a shiny photograph. It was a close-up of me and Caitlyn making stupid faces for the camera. I remember we had been at her house when we took it. The one below it was me and JJ leaning against a wooden picnic table eating our triple scoop ice cream cones. I kept flipping through the pages without saying a word, just stunned that I had some tangible way to recall all of these memories. "So THIS is why JJ and Caitlyn were taking so many pictures..." I thought in marvel. There was a picture of me with Angel on my back when I was giving her a piggy back ride up a particularily large hill on a walk with Ella while she was babysitting. There was the one of me and JJ smooshing Iggy between us in a giant hug. Iggy looked slightly less than thrilled. His expression made me laugh.
Fang shifted slightly in front of me and I realized I had totally been ignoring him. "I'll take it that it's not that bad, then?" he said, sounding slightly hopeful. I flipped through a few more pages and finally got to the last one. It was a picture of me and Fang passed out on Caitlyn's couch together after we'd watched a long movie. (I think it had been one of the Harry Potter movies.) My head was flopped on his shoulder, and his forehead was resting on the top of my skull. I tried not to smile too widely.
"Yeah...yeah, this is...this is AMAZING. When did you have the time to get all these together?" I asked him, forgetting some of the awkward tension that had been so prevalent only minutes before. He shrugged his shoulders.
"JJ and Caitlyn offered to help a little bit." I looked across the room and saw the two girls smiling at me, giving small little waves. OH...those two... "Well...they kind of did most of the work, but it was my idea." Fang admitted. I turned back to smile at him.
"Eh...it's the thought that counts." I said, closing the album and pressing it to my chest. We were just looking at eachother for a second. Then I threw my cautionary walls out the metaphorical window and tossed the book lightly onto the coffee table, wrapping my arms around his neck to give him a hug. It took him a minute to get his bearings, but he eventually hugged back. I was debating on whether or not it was too soon to let go when the sound of a cell phone ringing caused him to pull away. I looked at him in confusion.
"That sounds like my mom's..." he muttered, peering around the room for her. Sure enough, she was over by the tree, pulling a black cell phone out of her back pocket. I saw her mouth form the word 'hello?'. She looked confused at first, but then her face looked shocked. One of her hands flew up to lay over her heart like she was having trouble breathing or something. Fang tensed next to me and he moved forward just the slightest. Then Mrs. Damon's expression fell completely, and my eagle-eye vision allowed me to see the little tears converging on the rim of her eyes and threatening to spill over. She hurriedly pushed past several people to make it out of the living room and into the hallway. Fang began to follow. Out of sheer instinct, I did as well.
When we got to the doorway, he stepped through. I stayed hovering on the threshold. Looking up, I realized that this was the mistletoed doorway where me and Fang had almost... Nevermind that, though. I pushed the thought out of my head and turned my attention back to the present. "Mom?" Fang said tentativley, stepping towards her. She was sitting on the stairs, the phone pressed harshly to her ear. She nodded periodically, obviously listening to every word the person on the other line was saying with rapt attention. More tears ran down her cheeks, but she silently shut the phone, looking defeated. "Mom?" Fang tried again. I shied backwards a little, too curious to leave, but feeling like I was invading a private moment.
"It's Shayla..." Mrs. Damon stuttered out. My heart skipped a beat. Even though I had only met Shayla once, it was obvious to me how much Fang worried about her. I listened harder so as not to miss anything. "She started coughing up blood a few minutes ago, and now she's having trouble breathing. They say-" she paused to inhale sharply as alot of people do when they're talking and crying at the same time, "They say that probably means the cancer has metastasized to her lungs. It's spread to her lungs, Nick..." There was a rough sobbing noise. She was trying to muffle it as best as possible. Peeking around the corner again, I saw that Fang was hugging his mother and patting her on the back. His face looked wrought with anxiety. Mrs. Damon sniffled and suddenly pulled back. I did as well. I didn't want her to think I was meddling.
"We have to go to the hospital." She jumped to her feet and ran to the spot where many of the woman who had been guests had laid their purses. Grabbing hers, she pulled out a stack of tissues and dabbed at her eyes. I saw Fang discreetly wipe his own cheek on the back of his hand. Pinprick tears stung in the corner of MY eyes. I wasn't exactly sure what it meant when Mrs. Damon said the cancer had spread to Shayla's lungs, but I knew that it couldn't be good. "Are you okay?" Mrs. Damon asked her son with concern, reaching out to stroke his hair. He just nodded firmly. She nodded. "Okay, let's go." She spun around and suddenly caught sight of me. I stared back at her with wide eyes. Would she be angry?
"Oh, Max, tell your mother that I'm REALLY sorry." was all she said though. "And thank you for the lovely dinner." She smiled without any sign of happiness and opened the door, hurrying towards where her car was parked amongst the many others. Fang was about to follow after her. I grabbed his wrist, though, and tugged him back slightly. He turned his head over his shoulder to see what I wanted.
"Fang..." I said softly, feeling two tears scroll down my cheeks. He looked so sad. "Everything's going to be alright, right?" I asked weakly. It was meant to be a reassuring offer, but it came out in a questioning tone. He just looked at me, though. Biting his lip...
"I hope so." he said quietly, before pulling out of my grip and slipping out of the door.
A/N: Oh my ghandi! The last Harry Potter movie is coming out. EEEEEEK! That series was a MAJOR part of my childhood. No...scratch that...it WAS my childhood. LOL. Come on...don't tell me you didn't secretly hope that you'd get your Hogwarts letter on your 11th B-Day. And then a piece of your soul died a little when you didn't? Yeah...Well, I'm still convinced it just got lost in the owl-post. I swear, it'll turn up one day!
Also, I don't know if any of you guys are big Harry Potter dorks like me, but have you heard of that new site, PotterMore or something like that? Yeah! I'm totally gonna go and nerd out on it when it's up.